Pedro's Birthday
by Black Lighted Clouds
Summary: Jamie wants to throw Pedro a birthday party as he's never had one. Slight Pedro/Jamie.


It was a normal day; the sun was burning into the boys' skin as they played football in the garden, Richard was out on his five mile run and Professor Chambers was continuing her research. A normal day they all expected to end in the normal way; Scott firmly insisting he cooks dinner while Richard tried to cheer the sulking professor and the other three boys tried to find something to amuse themselves until Scott called them. How wrong they were.

Around noon, Pedro kicked the ball too far and ran off in pursuit. Jamie took the opportunity to seize Matt and Scott by their arms and pull them close to exclaim, "Pedro needs a birthday party."

The other two looked at each him, and then Matt turned to Scott, who just shook his head wearily and sighed, a feeling of dread sinking into his stomach. So the English boy returned his gaze to the younger twin and asked, "It's not his birthday, is it?"

Jamie shook his head, prompting his brother to demand, "Then why does he need a birthday party?"

"Because he's never had one!" the other cried, "His family were too poor to have any kind of celebration over it and his life after his family's death was so hard he's actually forgotten his birthday!"

Scott shrugged. "So? I can barely remember ours; we're the only ones who celebrate ours and I doubt Pedro's all that bothered about it."

"That may be," Matt began, "but it would be a nice gesture. We may not be able to do something about it next time."

Instead of glaring, as per usual, the elder twin sighed once more and turned to the blue-eyed boy, "You just don't learn, do you?"

XXXXX

So, it was decided that while Jamie kept Pedro away until five o'clock that evening, Professor Chambers and Richard would decorate the living room and Matt and Scott would make the cake. Bad idea. Matt had absolutely no idea how to bake and Scott's patience was rapidly running dry. Twice now he had hit the other boy on his temple with a wooden spoon to make him pay attention (and Matt privately thought that if people said wooden spoons couldn't be lethal weapons, they were dead wrong).

"Matt!" Scott yelled, "Just pour the sugar into the bowl until the scales say two hundred grams – it's not that hard!"

Matt glared at him out of the corner of his eye, doing as he was bid to avoid that damn spoon again as it was brandished at him, cursing the others for condemning him to slave away for this nut job. Though he had to admit, he was enjoying the sight of Scott clad in a white and pink apron with flour smeared all over his face.

Professor Chambers cut the blue paper into a wall banner, as Richard lay the table nicely. "I take it Pedro gets to sit at the head of the table tonight?" The woman nodded. "Of course."

The man nodded. That's the thing with adults, they know how to get along – well, they knew better than teenagers apparently, as another yell of, "MATT!!" echoed through the house. The journalist looked to the professor. "It's your turn to sort them out."

She frowned and shook her head. "No, it's your turn."

"I did it last time!"

"You did not!" When you really think about it, adults and kids had a lot more in common than originally assumed.

Jamie thought this was a bad idea, bringing Pedro into town. The sights of tourists merrily going about their business when there was suffering Peruvian people around every corner, in plain view, appeared to be upsetting the other boy. Jamie didn't know what to do. He decided that staying in the shops for as long as possible might help and hoped the others were having more luck than he was.

XXXXX

Professor Chambers was balanced precariously on a stack of furniture as the ladder was old and likely to crumble at any time; though the professor was fairly certain it would have been more stable than this. "Richard!" she yelled. "Will you please support the base?!"

"But you're on the top, that's what needs the support!"

"The base is holding the top up, fool!"

"Stop wiggling around-"

"Ahh!" _Crash!_

Having finally sorted out the mixture, Scott turned to his reluctant assistant and said, "Okay, there's some food colouring over there, can you pour a little in please?"

Matt did so, mixing it in until the colouring took effect and the boys stared. _Whack!_

"Ouch!" Matt shouted, clutching his bruised nose with his eyes watering. "What the Hell?!"

"Idiot!" the furious chef yelled at him. "I meant the one next to this one! Didn't you read the label?!"

"Who cares, it's coloured isn't it?!"

"It's PINK!"

"I doubt Pedro will care, it's still a cake. Anyway, he's always a little cautious with your cooking." _Smack! _"Ouch!"

Pedro was in a very black mood and Jamie was panicking. The Peruvian boy hadn't spoken for a while and the American swore he noticed the boy glaring at him once. He finally stormed off down an alley and Jamie went after him, grabbing his elbow to haul him back. The other male flung his arm out of Jamie's grip and turned a full-fledged glower on him. He narrowed his eyes and snapped, "Why did you bring me here?"

As Jamie stumbled for an excuse, the angry teenager continued relentlessly, "You must know I hate this place, so why torment me?!"

The stunned boy found his voice, "I didn't mean to upset you-"

"Yes, foreigners never mean to do anything wrong, but my country is a pit of Hell because of you!" Pedro snarled.

Now it was Jamie's turn to get angry, "Alright, let's set the record straight," he began, fists clenched, "I'm sorry for what's happened to you, but I am not responsible for that. I know what it's like to be alone and scared and I wouldn't wish that on anybody, so I'm sorry if I offended you, but instead of getting angry and taking it out on me, how about you let me know when something upsets you so we can deal with it?!"

Pedro looked at the ground, anger still shadowing his face. Jamie grunted and started walking away, too upset to think about what he would be interrupting if he returned to the hacienda now. A hand closed around his and stopped him in his tracks. Turning back, he saw it was Pedro who had grabbed him and gave him a questioning look. The other boy kept his eyes averted as he murmured, "I am sorry, Jamie. I am just so upset about the state of my people now I know life is not like this elsewhere." He sighed heavily and turned his gaze to a beggar leaning on a doorstep.

Jamie smiled uncertainly, understanding. "I forgive you. Let's go somewhere else if this is bothering you." He squeezed Pedro's hand in reassurance, who smiled back.

XXXXX

The two of them returned to the house laughing after the wonderful day they spent together, Jamie blushing from Pedro's constant recounting of his disastrous attempt to juggle when he saw the Peruvian boy do it with ease. Their chuckling stopped abruptly when they walked in on absolute chaos.

Matt was lying on the floor, struggling to push an enraged Scott, who was attempting to strangle him, off of his position straddling the other boy. They were both covered in what looked like flour and some kind of neon pink liquid, which had already put streaks in Matt's black hair. Richard and Professor Chambers were ignoring them as they attempted to patch up each others head wounds, pieces of furniture and books laying hapharzardly everywhere on the floor.

The four of them suddenly spotted the other two and Richard said, in a lame voice, "Um . . . Happy Birthday?"

Realising the journalist was talking to him, Pedro asked incredulously, "What is going on?!"

"Great idea, Jamie." Scott scowled, ceasing his attack on Matt so the boy could sit up (though he had not yet got off of him).

"What?" Pedro asked, stunned as he turned to look at his American friend, feeling guilty about his earlier anger when it became clear to him just why Jamie had taken him there.

"Jamie wanted you to have a birthday party as you've never had one before," Matt explained, "so it was his job to distract you while Richard and Professor Chambers decorated the living room for you and Scott and I-"

The teenagers in question both froze in horror. "The cake!" Scott yelled in panic, running into the kitchen to save his concoction.

All in all, it was a complete disaster. But Pedro still got his bright pink cake, which Scott managed to salvage, not particularly caring about the odd colour ("Told you," Matt had hissed smugly at Scott) and went to bed that night, thinking about how much he really loved the strange people fate had pulled him too.

On that note, Pedro licked his lips once more, remembering Jamie's birthday present. Yeah, he _really _loved these people.


End file.
